Snow Kissed
by Rose G
Summary: Snow in Tar Valon brings some tender moments for Lan and his bondholder, and a chance to recapture freedom for a time.


Snow Kissed

Rose G

Disclaimer - All characters and settings are the property of Robert Jordan and I have made no money from their use.

Lan unsheathed his sword and danced through a few of the forms he had known since his childhood. Heron Wading in the Rushes to start with, then the fighting strikes and parries. He imagined himself an opponant, younger,faster, fitter than himself and whirled round in a never ending dance with death. He smiled as he moved.

'It is not often I see you smile, my Gaidin.'

Lan started, yet even so, his blade finished the stroke and was sheathed again before he turned to look at Moiraine. 'It is not so often that I have cause to smile, Aes Sedai.'

'Does the bond chafe you so badly, al'Lan, to make you so formal? Have just three years worn your patience and tolerance so much that you have forgotten a pond?'

He laughed, a carefree sound that made the others glance in their direction. Her words seemed harsh, but the bond carried only affection. Not love, not the lust that he knew he inspired in so many women, but a true and deep affection. It was that feeling alone which made him laugh.

The Malkeri king dropped into a mocking bow. 'As my Lady commands, I will not forget a pond.Was there any serious reason that you stirred yourself from your lists to come and watch your warder train?'

'Only that most sisters watch their warders more closely than I have ever watched you. Some of them were starting to feel that I don't take sufficient interest in you.'

'I see.' Lan was curious though. From the suprising openess that had marked the first weeks of their acquaintance, she had beceom silent on her cause. Lan knew only that the Dragon Reborn lived; a boychild of three years or so now; stumbling aound on uneasy legs, surely the crowning joy in his parents' lives.

How soon though, before that power he wielded came flashing into life? And would his parents still love him when they realised that they had raised Lews Therin Kinslayer? Lan, who had never known that love, hoped that they would.

'No such sad thoughts, Lan. He will be well when we come to find him; all will be well.'

He sighed, aware of what that implied. 'When do we leave, Moiraine?'

'Leave? I said nothing about leaving. But if you wish to be moving, then we ride to Arad Doman tomorrow - just you, me, Cat Dancer and Arrow. And...' her voice trailed off like the light was.

That realisation stole his attention and he tossed his head back to look at the sky. His jet black hair streamed out behind him, making him look like a just roped black stallion longing for his homeland.

Moiraine walked over to one of the grassy banks and sat down. Lan, after a minute, pulled on his fancloth cloak and joined her, his attention still fixed on the sky and the snowclouds that were forming. She sighed, remembering the effort it had cost her and Siun, even using the angreal, to pull these clouds over to Tar Valon.

As they watched, the first flakes began to drift down and settle. From the city came the joyful shouting of the children, and from much nearer, Lan's chuckle.

'Snow here, Moiraine?'

'It does snow here occasionally, Lan. You've been too busy wandering and fighting to see it; that is all.'

'Snow here, in Tar Valon, so shortly after I felt you tiring yourself so much? If you were so keen to see snow, you only had to ask and we could have left for the Borderlands.' His voice said 'for home.'

'You wanted to see the snow, Lan, not me. Any sister who couldn't tell that from your thoughts is not worthy of the ring. Call it a gift from me and Siun.'

He turned his face up to recieve the soft kiss of the falling snow that he had missed so much - the snow that fell in his Kingdom and in his homeland, but never here while he had been here. It streaked his raven hair with silver, melted instantly when it touched his body. His laughter rang out across the training yards, increased when he saw Siun run across to join them.

'It is a good job you've got this one bonded, Moiraine, else every Green within the city would be congregating here to do just that.'

Lan greeted her, then rose to his feet. 'With your leave, Moiraine, I am going to take Dancerout for a ride in this. How long should it last?'

The two women looked at each other. 'Until around midnight, Lan.' They waited for only a few minutes before he rode past, bareback, on Cat Dancer. He waved to them, seemingly amused when the warhorse pretended to be afraid of the snow and half reared; then they were gone into the snow leaving only hoofprints and echoes behind them.

'Why did you do that, Moiraine?'

'Because...because I can - and because he likes the snow. For me, so that I could hear him laugh for once. You know, Siun, he might be a king, but...'

'What?'

'He still acts like a little boy sometimes, and all little boys love snow.'

They grinned in timeless female amusement at the strangeness of men. Lan, as he cantered through the snow that was covering the road, felt their amusement and smiled, patting the great horse he rode on the neck, pretending that the shadows around them were armies.


End file.
